---
title: To help invite the birds, he sat down in front of it and got his dru… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: To help invite the birds, he sat down in front of it and got his drum and rattle and began singing a song of invitation. Who acts: you, djak, invitation. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2, with its depend
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2, sentence 14

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To help invite the birds, he sat down in front of it and got his drum and rattle and began singing a song of invitation.

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**Who acts:** you, djak, invitation · **What happens:** help, invite, sit down, get, begin, sing · **To what, where:** birds, front, drum, song

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, djak, invitation), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66509:6:14
# text = To help invite the birds, he sat down in front of it and got his drum and rattle and began singing a song of invitation.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
3	invite	invite	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	rattle	rattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	xcomp	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	invitation	invitation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **invite** | imperative | you *not said here* |  | the birds |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Recipient |
| 3 | **sit down** | past | djak |  |  | front of front |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in front=Location |
| 4 | **get** | past | djak *not said here* | djak's drum and rattle |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer drum=Stimulus |
| 5 | **begin** | past | djak *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | djak *not said here* | a song of invitation |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 7 | **sing** |  | invitation |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Project Gutenberg book 66509 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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